“Lets Get Drunk!!”
Text: Proverbs 9:1-6
8-31-03
Grace, Mercy and Peace be unto you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. Last week I eluded to the fact that school was starting up. That goes for people at all different levels of their education. And the whole purpose of going to school is... TO LEARN! So we hope and pray that when we send our kids to school or to college... they will hear the invitation to gain Wisdom. And we hope and pray that they’ll accept that invitation. Unfortunately, that isn’t the only invitation they’ll get. From Middle School on up, they’ll eventually hear the invitation of “Lets Get Drunk!” Oh, the actual words may not be that subtle. It may sound more like, “So-and-so is having a party... Lets go to it.” And at some of those parties, there is going to be an unspoken invitation to get Drunk! Naturally, the person doing the inviting isn’t going to sit down and explain to them all the potential negative consequences of accepting that invitation. Their friends aren’t going to tell them how much “fun” it is to have a hangover... or if they get caught, how much “fun” it is to be arrested or suspended... or the dangers of driving while intoxicated. The invitation wouldn’t be very alluring if that kind of Wisdom were shared.
Well, in the first 9 chapters of the Book of Proverbs, there is a similar dual-invitation. Wisdom and Foolishness are portrayed as two women... two women who are inviting people to a party. Foolishness invites her guests to come to her party and get drunk on all the pleasures that the world has to offer. Wisdom invites her guests to come to her party to eat and drink and be filled with a Divine Knowledge. King Solomon is the one who wrote these words. And he wrote them as wise instruction for his sons. But they are also written as wise words for us to consider. Because you see, we’re faced with that same decision in our Christian walk. Will we accept the invitation to Get Drunk with Miss Foolishness... or will we accept the invitation to eat and drink with Miss Wisdom?
I know... all this figurative language sounds confusing. So lets unpack it and see what God has to say to us. First of all, who or what is it... that Miss Foolishness represents? Simply put, she is the personification of our evil, sinful world and our sinful natures. It is everything that is in opposition and rebellion against God. And since it is in opposition to God, it seeks to lure us away from God’s Will and His Good Graces. If you look a little ways ahead in chapter 9 at verse 16, you’ll see that the invitations of Foolishness and Wisdom are identical. "Let all who are simple come in here!" she says to those who lack judgment.” Foolishness mimics the invitation of Wisdom. It sounds so innocent. It sounds like a simple invitation to have some fun... to enjoy life. But make no mistake... this is a battle for our souls.
This invitation may SOUND the same, but it is an invitation to a party that is 180 degrees opposite to what Wisdom is offering. Just like Wisdom, Foolishness offers food and wine at her party. But look at what Solomon says that food and wine is in chapter 4:17. “They eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence.” Isn’t that an apt description of what our sinful world is feasting on?? And the end result of partying with Miss Foolishness isn’t just a hangover. No... if you look at the last verse of chapter 9 it says: 18 “But little do they know that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of the grave.” Folks, we’re not just talking about physical death here. We’re talking about the eternal death of our souls!
So if that’s the case, then why would anyone be seduced by Foolishness to come party with her? Well, it’s the same reason as I used in our opening illustration. The sinful world isn’t going to warn you about the consequences ahead of time! They aren’t going to tell you that getting drunk on Foolishness can harm your soul and kill it eternally. And our sinful nature is right in tune with that... because we don’t WANT to know the dangers or the consequences! Besides, it all sounds so innocent and enticing.
When I was stationed over in Germany, I went on a 4 day weekend to Frankfurt with 2 of my buddies. It’s a beautiful, historic old town. But little did we know that between the train station and our hotel... sat the red-light district. All along the street were porn shops and strip-bars. They had flashing neon lights and music playing outside. And just about everyone of them had a street barker.... a guy who would try to entice you and lure you into their establishment. They’d tell you about all the fun you were going to have and the unbelievable things you were going to see and experience. Likewise with the prostitutes. They’d call to you in a seductive voice. In fact, as I recall, they could speak pretty, doggone good English when they wanted to. It all seemed so inviting that it made your head swim, almost as if you were intoxicated. And here were 3 young GI’s who didn’t know what they had walked into.
As you might imagine, these fine, upstanding individuals of the red light district didn’t bother to warn people of the consequences if they accepted these alluring invitations. They failed to mention that a beer in one of these places would cost you 4 times as much as normal. They didn’t tell you about how those pornographic images would be burned into your memory for life. The prostitutes weren’t about to warn you about all the diseases you might get from them. Or how you can’t regain your innocence once it’s lost.
Friends, that was an invitation to Party with Miss Foolishness. She was inviting us to have some fun and get drunk on her Foolishness. I won’t deny that we did stop in one of those bars to have a drink. We flirted with Foolishness and began to drink her intoxicating wine of wickedness. But somewhere in our hearts and minds God’s Wisdom was calling us away from that seductive filth. You see, all 3 of us guys had been exposed to God’s Law and Gospel during our lives. Our faith may have been weak at times, but we were familiar with the beautiful voice of God’s Wisdom. By the grace of God, we were able to walk away from that invitation to get drunk on Foolishness.
Now maybe you’ve never had that dramatic of an invitation from Miss Foolishness. Or maybe you’ve never had one that was that easy to identify. But don’t be fooled... no pun intended... that same invitation is out there for all of us... the invitation to get drunk on the Foolishness of our sinful world. Just like those barkers and prostitutes on the streets of Frankfurt, our world calls to us in a seductive voice, inviting us to come and have an innocent drink of their wicked “wine.” And so much of it really does seem innocent or harmless. Years ago on TV, it seemed harmless to allow a little “drink” of swearing or the suggestion of immoral behavior. Now, our society is DRUNK on that wicked “wine.” Swearing and promiscuous sex and even homosexual relationships are the normal intoxicating drink that’s being served.
The same is true in every other area of our lives. Divorce is rampant... all because we started with a little sip of that intoxicating “wine” when we were told it was harmless. Sex outside of marriage was once a taboo drink. Now society tells our kids that everybody is drinking from that cup. And it’s become almost an accepted fact that even married people will take a little drink of that wicked “wine” too. Miss Foolishness calls to people and says, “Skipping worship won’t hurt you. Just take a sip and try it.” Soon, people are so intoxicated with the idea that they can’t find a good reason to GO to God’s House anymore. You can take any sinful behavior you want and plug it in here, because the pattern of seduction is the same. Foolishness offers a little drink of her wickedness and then encourages people to get drunk on it. And remember, Miss Foolishness isn’t going to warn you of the consequences!!
But Miss Wisdom... God’s Wisdom... is calling out to us too. Notice in our text that she calls to the “simple” and those “who lack judgment.” To clarify it, we might call them Simple-Minded. So, who are these people that are Simple-Minded?? Now don’t any of you nudge the person beside you and say, “Hey... Pastor’s talking about you!!” That’s true. I AM!! But I’m also talking about ALL of us!! This is the condition we were all born into. You see, if you remove the Wisdom of God and His Salvation... well, then what you’ve got left is Foolishness. Prior to the Holy Spirit working in our hearts, we were all born as Simple-Minded Fools. We were drunk on the sinful way of life that Miss Foolishness offered us.
But thanks be to God, He rescued us from that party of destruction. Through our Baptisms, He sat us down at the banquet table of His Wisdom. Through the atoning blood of Jesus, we were washed clean of all our sinfulness. He sobered us up, so-to-speak. He purged us of the damning, intoxicating affects of the wicked wine of Foolishness. As we hear and read God’s Word.... Wisdom is calling out to us... inviting us to eat and drink at her table. Wisdom’s food and wine is the pure teaching of God’s Word. Eating and drinking at Wisdom’s banquet has no ill affects. Her wine... which is the Truth of God’s Word... doesn’t cloud our minds like a drunken stupor. No... It clears them!! It clears our minds so that we can see our Savior, Jesus Christ, more clearly. The wicked wine of Miss Foolishness brings eternal death. But look at what Miss Wisdom offers us in verse 6. God’s Wisdom says, “Leave your simple ways and you will LIVE”!! That is an invitation to a banquet of eternal life.
St. Paul also touches on this same point in his Second letter to Timothy. He encourages Timothy, and us, to keep going to Wisdom’s fine banquet by feasting on God’s Word. Listen to what chapter 3:14-15 says: “But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.”
That is Wisdom’s invitation to you. But let me warn you... for as long as you live, both Wisdom and Foolishness will be inviting you to their party. And contrary to what some people believe, you CANNOT have it both ways. In other words, you can’t be a Sophomore!! Why do I say that?? Well, the word Sophomore in the Greek comes from the combination of two words. “Sophos” means “wise” and “Moros” means... you guessed it... “moron.” So a Sophomore is... by definition... a “Wise-Moron.” My apologies to both my daughters and all the rest of you Sophomores. But that’s what it means! You and I can see that those two words are contradictory. They are complete opposites. They are mutually exclusive of each other. And that’s why I said that as a Christian, you can’t be a “Wise-Moron.” In other words, God’s not going to allow you to attend both parties at the same time. You must either choose to get drunk with Miss Foolishness... or dine with God’s Wisdom. One means eternal death.... and the other means eternal life through Jesus.
The Good News is that as long as there is life left in your body, you have time to leave the drunken party of Foolishness. God promises to forgive us and restore us. And by the power of the Holy Spirit working in us, we can listen to the voice of Wisdom and accept her invitation. By God’s power we are able to feast on His Word and Sacraments which are able to make us “wise”... “wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.” I pray that all of us today have feasted at Wisdom’s banquet here in God’s House. And I pray that we will all continue to heed that call of Wisdom to hear and study God’s Word both together and privately. May God graciously grant it for Jesus’ sake. Amen.
